Volume Seven: Chapter Eleven - Our Conversation with Molly Peacock

 In Volume Seven: Chapter Eleven we welcomed Buffalo, New York-born, Toronto-based Poet, Essayist, Educator, Biographer, and Author Molly Peacock. She earned her BA from Harpur College at Binghamton University and her MA from Johns Hopkins University. She has served as president of the Poetry Society of America, founded The Best Canadian Poetry series after moving to Canada, and her literary papers are housed at the Binghamton University Library. Molly is the author of numerous poetry collections, works of prose, and the memoir Paradise, Piece by Piece. Her latest collection is The Widow's Crayon Box.In our conversation, we explore the creative foundation shaped by a family where books and writing were woven into everyday life. Molly reflects on her mother's voracious reading habits, her grandmother's lifelong practice of writing alongside the routines of daily life, and the teachers and mentors who encouraged her to think of herself as a writer long before she fully believed it herself.We also trace her evolution as both an artist and a person, discussing what it meant to become the first in her family to attend college, the confidence she discovered during her years at Johns Hopkins, and how formal poetry became less about following rules than finding a structure capable of holding life's most powerful emotions.Finally, we explore The Widow's Crayon Box, a collection born from the loss of her husband that reveals the many colors of widowhood rather than the single shade society often imagines. Molly reflects on the first twenty-eight days following his passing, the moment she realized she was beginning what she calls "the turn" into widowhood, and how the poems emerged naturally as a way to process grief, preserve love, and transform profound loss into art. Contact Molly:Instagram: @mollypeacockpoet        Website: mollypeacock.org Recorded Spoken Word Performances Featured Include: Arantza Garcia – Recipe BookInstagram: @arantza.cgfGhetto Jedi The Poet – I Am MetaphorAyanna Florence – Boy Calls Me PrettyInstagram: @poetnextdoor          Blog: poetnextdoor.medium.comRundy Francisco – My Honesty PoemInstagram: @rudyfrancisco         Website: iamrudyfransicso.comAlyesha Wise – FlowersInstagram: @alyeshawise            Website: alyeshawise.comSupport the show